---
title: "Business Case"
description: "Why loss of preload costs money and how preload monitoring will help you get the most from your assets and let your maintenance teams work smarter."
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site: "Smart Bolts by Strainlabs"
publisher: "Smart Bolts by Strainlabs"
language: "en-GB"
updated: "2026-11-11"
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---

# Business Case

> Why loss of preload costs money and how preload monitoring will help you get the most from your assets and let your maintenance teams work smarter.

## Business case

Why loss of preload costs money and how preload monitoring will help you get the most from your assets and let your maintenance teams work smarter.

![A maintenance worker in a hard hat in an industrial plant](https://strainlabs.clearagency.ai/media/mwcibvs4-46rgtul3.webp)

### Opportunities with high impact

When maintenance is treated as a strategic function, it can have a substantial effect on reliability, profitability and efficiency.

_Example 1:_

### When you get to fix problems before failure occurs

**Figure:** Repairs cost expenditure items, source: Reliable Plant Magazine. Repair costs at a Potential failure (P) will be relatively low compared to a Functional failure (F).

Note that the diagram only considers direct cost, potential related indirect or hidden costs are not mentioned in the table but would relate to production loss, quality issues, preventing risks, environmental and more.

Bolt preload is crucial for safety and function of industrial applications, and undetected bolts in a non-functional preload range can lead to functional failure. Reliable plant presents a pragmatic summary of how to calculate the benefit of avoiding a functional failure (Cost F) and fixing the problem when the issue is detected as a potentially upcoming failure (Cost P).

![Table of repair cost expenditure items comparing Cost P and Cost F, with the savings](https://strainlabs.clearagency.ai/media/mwcibw5l-f15twef9.webp)

_Example 2:_

### When inspection and maintenance accounts for high costs / risks

A robust predictive maintenance setup combines a maintenance team as well as diagnostics and condition monitoring. If your business and revenue depend on certain production assets, bottom lines are clearly affected by uptime. Condition monitoring can, besides detecting a failure before it happens, add both cost efficiency and frequency to the maintenance mix. Higher flexibility with more means for inspections is especially relevant for bolts that are hard to reach or in locations that exposes the team to safety risks. When reviewing cost of asset ownership, and the maintenance and inspection portion is a significant part of costs – considering preload monitoring becomes relevant.

![Type chart – cost of asset ownership: design, construction, operations and disposal](https://strainlabs.clearagency.ai/media/mwci496c-b7akc4bi.webp)

_Example 3:_

### When you want to remain the market leader

Getting the most from your asset / process gives market advantages, and data enables perfecting further on for example unexploited efficiency areas, ensure value and efficient problem solving as well as staying ahead as regulatory requirements change. Reliability in the core technique or offering is an increasing focus in particular Smart Manufacturing, sometimes called Reliability Cantered Maintenance (RCM). Asset management is seen as operations, not maintenance. For mechanical industrial structures, consider the value of bolt preload and further the risks of wrong preload – perhaps already at installation. What value would it mean if you for core processes / customer’s experienced clear reductions in for example:

- Downtime %

- Reactive maintenance %

- Incidents %

- Cost of inventory %

The options:
Stay analogue:
There are some good methods for bolt securing mechanically and chemically to securing bolt from losing clamp lengths. Laboratory test shows efficiency however; those solutions will not inspect themselves, follow up on operator / tool accuracy and then risk not standing the test of time and environmental changes. They will not inspect themselves and your application, nor your maintenance processes, will get more digital.
Choose a “smart bolting” solution:
There are a range of bolt options that may categorize themselves as smart meaning attempting to offer bolt preload inspection externally (i.e. without untightening). Benchmarking questions we would recommend is if you actually get a relevant value as data tied to the position and time (for analysis), if you can inspect remotely or need to geographically be close to the bolt, if data is aggregated and offers alerts automatically. If it would be easy to test and implement as part of maintenance routine to drive better decisions. Strainlabs is the only complete IoT System on the market today.

### Discover the Strainlabs solution

Get to know us to learn more about Internet of Bolts, Preload Monitoring and how Strainlabs System can benefit your operations.

This section is a form (“Discover the Strainlabs solution”) that visitors fill in on the web page. It asks for:

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It is sent with the “Send” button and goes to the Smart Bolts by Strainlabs team.

## Related pages

**Part of**

- [Preload monitoring by Strainlabs](https://strainlabs.clearagency.ai/preload-monitoring) ([Markdown](https://strainlabs.clearagency.ai/preload-monitoring.md)): Learn how preload monitoring helps industrial teams detect loose bolts, reduce manual inspections and prevent costly downtime.

**Alongside this page**

- [IndTech](https://strainlabs.clearagency.ai/preload-monitoring/indtech) ([Markdown](https://strainlabs.clearagency.ai/preload-monitoring/indtech.md)): Discover how IndTech combines IT, OT, IoT sensors and data analytics to modernize industrial operations and maintenance.
- [IoT & Sensor Technology](https://strainlabs.clearagency.ai/preload-monitoring/iot-sensor-technology) ([Markdown](https://strainlabs.clearagency.ai/preload-monitoring/iot-sensor-technology.md)): Learn how IoT sensor technology helps industrial teams collect data, improve safety and monitor critical bolted joints remotely.
- [Torque vs Preload](https://strainlabs.clearagency.ai/preload-monitoring/torque-vs-preload) ([Markdown](https://strainlabs.clearagency.ai/preload-monitoring/torque-vs-preload.md)): Preload Monitoring

**Main pages**

- [Smart Bolts with Built-in Sensors](https://strainlabs.clearagency.ai/) ([Markdown](https://strainlabs.clearagency.ai/home.md)): Strainlabs smart bolts measure preload every 10 minutes and alert you months before failure. Continuous bolt monitoring for industrial operations.
- [About us](https://strainlabs.clearagency.ai/about) ([Markdown](https://strainlabs.clearagency.ai/about.md)): Strainlabs offers smart bolts with built-in sensors, paired with a system that enables real-time monitoring and alerts, to prevent unexpected production stops
- [Contact](https://strainlabs.clearagency.ai/contact) ([Markdown](https://strainlabs.clearagency.ai/contact.md)): Let's talk!
- [Customer cases](https://strainlabs.clearagency.ai/customer-cases) ([Markdown](https://strainlabs.clearagency.ai/customer-cases.md)): Our success stories
- [Downloads](https://strainlabs.clearagency.ai/downloads) ([Markdown](https://strainlabs.clearagency.ai/downloads.md)): Learn more
- [Industries](https://strainlabs.clearagency.ai/industries) ([Markdown](https://strainlabs.clearagency.ai/industries.md)): Industries
- [Maintenance Glossary](https://strainlabs.clearagency.ai/maintenance-glossary) ([Markdown](https://strainlabs.clearagency.ai/maintenance-glossary.md)): All Key Terms in Maintenance & Reliability Explained
- [Our Solution](https://strainlabs.clearagency.ai/our-solution) ([Markdown](https://strainlabs.clearagency.ai/our-solution.md)): Our Solution
- [Part of Service Offering](https://strainlabs.clearagency.ai/part-of-service-offering) ([Markdown](https://strainlabs.clearagency.ai/part-of-service-offering.md)): Application and industries
- [Partners](https://strainlabs.clearagency.ai/partners) ([Markdown](https://strainlabs.clearagency.ai/partners.md)): Local expertise. Global reach.
- [Privacy policy](https://strainlabs.clearagency.ai/privacy-policy) ([Markdown](https://strainlabs.clearagency.ai/privacy-policy.md)): Last updated: 2021-08-25
- [Request a demo](https://strainlabs.clearagency.ai/request-a-demo) ([Markdown](https://strainlabs.clearagency.ai/request-a-demo.md)): Want to know more? Request a demo
- [Sustainability](https://strainlabs.clearagency.ai/sustainability) ([Markdown](https://strainlabs.clearagency.ai/sustainability.md)): Preload monitoring

## How to cite

Smart Bolts by Strainlabs. “Business Case”. Smart Bolts by Strainlabs, 2026-11-11. https://strainlabs.clearagency.ai/preload-monitoring/business-case (accessed <date>).

## Company & contact

- **Company:** Smart Bolts by Strainlabs
- **Address:** Strainlabs head office, Stockholm: | Kungsgatan 64, 111 22 Stockholm
- **General enquiries:** [contact@strainlabs.com](mailto:contact@strainlabs.com)
- **Phone:** +46 (0) 46 286 4000
- **About:** Get to know us to learn more about Internet of Bolts, Preload Monitoring and how Strainlabs System can benefit your operations.

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